SamPlvs · SamPlvs · May 28, 2026 · May 28, 2026
@@ -25,10 +25,10 @@ zo build plans/project.md [--gate-mode supervised|auto|full-auto] [--no-tmux]
 ```
 
 **Cost-saving options:**
-- `--low-token`: activates the cost-saving preset (Sonnet lead, Haiku for code-reviewer / test-engineer / oracle-qa, 2 max iterations, full-auto gates, no headlines, earlier auto-compaction). Equivalent to `low_token: true` in plan frontmatter. **~30% measured savings** on MNIST ($7.75 vs ~$11 default); 50-60% targeted, 70-80% on the roadmap (prompt caching + Batch API + Files API via SDK refactor). See `docs/concepts/low-token-mode.mdx`.
+- `--low-token`: activates the cost-saving preset (Sonnet lead, Haiku for code-reviewer / test-engineer / oracle-qa, 2 max iterations, full-auto gates, no end-of-session Haiku summary, earlier auto-compaction). Equivalent to `low_token: true` in plan frontmatter. **~30% measured savings** on MNIST ($7.75 vs ~$11 default); 50-60% targeted, 70-80% on the roadmap (prompt caching + Batch API + Files API via SDK refactor). See `docs/concepts/low-token-mode.mdx`.
 - `--lead-model`: override lead orchestrator model. Composes with `--low-token`.
 - `--max-iterations N`: hard cap on Phase-4 experiment iterations. Wins over plan and preset.
-- `--no-headlines`: disable the Haiku headline ticker (saves ~60 small calls/hour).
+- `--no-headlines`: skip the end-of-session Haiku bullet summary (~1 Haiku call per run).
 
 ### zo continue
 

@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ You don't pass a flag for this, `zo build` figures it out.
     Creates a tmux pane (default) or runs headless (`--no-tmux`). Pastes the Lead Orchestrator's prompt. The Lead reads the full plan, creates the team via `TeamCreate`, and drives execution.
   </Step>
   <Step title="Monitor">
-    The Python `LifecycleWrapper` observes via `~/.claude/tasks/` and the tmux pane. Captures lifecycle events, pipes them to JSONL comms log, surfaces Haiku-summarised headlines every 60 seconds in your terminal. Auto-launches the training dashboard split-pane during Phase 4.
+    The Python `LifecycleWrapper` observes via `~/.claude/tasks/` and the tmux pane. Captures lifecycle events, pipes them to JSONL comms log, prints the live task list and recent agent events in your terminal. Auto-launches the training dashboard split-pane during Phase 4.
   </Step>
   <Step title="Gate handling">
     At every phase boundary, checks artifact contracts and oracle thresholds. Automated gates auto-PROCEED. Blocking gates pause; you approve via `/gates:approve` or reject via `/gates:reject`.
@@ -117,9 +117,6 @@ While `zo build` is running, you have several windows into what the team is doin
   <Card title="tmux pane" icon="window-restore">
     `Ctrl-b n` switches to the agent session. Watch the Lead Orchestrator coordinate the team in real time. `Ctrl-b p` returns.
   </Card>
-  <Card title="Headlines" icon="bullhorn">
-    Every 60 seconds, your invoking terminal gets a 1-line Haiku summary of recent agent events. Lightweight live signal.
-  </Card>
   <Card title="Training dashboard" icon="chart-line">
     Auto-launched as a split-pane during Phase 4. Rich Live panel: progress bar, metrics table, sparkline, checkpoints. See `zo watch-training`.
   </Card>
@@ -138,7 +135,7 @@ While `zo build` is running, you have several windows into what the team is doin
 | `--low-token` | (off) | Activate the cost-saving preset. See [low-token mode](/concepts/low-token-mode). |
 | `--lead-model` | `opus` (or `sonnet` if `--low-token`) | Override the lead orchestrator model: `opus` / `sonnet` / `haiku`. |
 | `--max-iterations N` | `10` (or `2` if `--low-token`) | Hard cap on Phase-4 experiment iterations. Wins over plan and preset. |
-| `--no-headlines` | (off) | Disable the Haiku headline ticker (saves ~60 small calls/hour). |
+| `--no-headlines` | (off) | Skip the end-of-session Haiku bullet summary (~1 Haiku call per run, ~$0.0002). |
 | `--bypass-permissions` | (off) | Auto-approve Claude Code tool-call prompts. Implied by `--gate-mode full-auto`. See [Permission prompts](#permission-prompts-bypass-permissions). |
 
 ## Examples
@@ -173,7 +170,7 @@ While `zo build` is running, you have several windows into what the team is doin
     ```bash
     zo build plans/my-project.md --low-token
     ```
-    Sonnet lead, Haiku for code-reviewer / test-engineer / oracle-qa, 2 max iterations, no headlines, full-auto gates, earlier auto-compaction. **~30% measured savings** on MNIST (\$7.75 vs ~\$11 default); 50-60% targeted, 70-80% on the [roadmap](/roadmap). See [low-token mode](/concepts/low-token-mode) for the full preset and trade-offs.
+    Sonnet lead, Haiku for code-reviewer / test-engineer / oracle-qa, 2 max iterations, no end-of-session Haiku summary, full-auto gates, earlier auto-compaction. **~30% measured savings** on MNIST (\$7.75 vs ~\$11 default); 50-60% targeted, 70-80% on the [roadmap](/roadmap). See [low-token mode](/concepts/low-token-mode) for the full preset and trade-offs.
   </Accordion>
   <Accordion title="Low-token mode with override">
     ```bash

@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ Most project-aware commands also accept:
 | `--low-token` | Activate the cost-saving preset (Sonnet lead, max-iterations 2, full-auto gates, no headlines, earlier auto-compaction). See [low-token mode](/concepts/low-token-mode). |
 | `--lead-model` | Override the lead orchestrator model (`opus`/`sonnet`/`haiku`). Composes with `--low-token`. |
 | `--max-iterations N` | Hard cap on Phase-4 experiment iterations. Wins over plan-level `## Experiment Loop` and the low-token preset. |
-| `--no-headlines` | Disable the Haiku headline ticker. |
+| `--no-headlines` | Skip the end-of-session Haiku bullet summary (~1 small call per run). |
 | `--bypass-permissions` | Auto-approve Claude Code tool-call permission prompts. Implied by `--gate-mode full-auto`. Works in both tmux and headless modes. See [build → Permission prompts](/cli/build#permission-prompts-bypass-permissions). |
 
 ## Modes of operation

@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ The banner shows a `[low-token]` badge whenever the preset is active so you have
 | Phase-4 `max_iterations` | `10` | `2` | Phase 4 is the dominant cost; iteration count is the multiplier. |
 | Phase-4 `stop_on_tier` | `must_pass` | `could_pass` | Stops at the weakest acceptable oracle tier instead of pushing for the strongest. |
 | Cross-cutting `research-scout` | on every phase | dropped | Saves ~6 spawns and their contracts. |
-| Haiku headline ticker | every 60s | disabled | ~60 small calls/hour. Small individually, cumulative across long runs. |
+| End-of-session Haiku summary | 1 call per run | disabled | ~$0.0002 per run. The previous per-60-second ticker (~60 small calls/hour) was removed unconditionally; only the one-shot wrap-up remains, and `--low-token` skips even that. |
 | Default gate mode | `supervised` | `full-auto` | No human-loop overhead. You can still pass `--gate-mode supervised` to override. |
 | `CLAUDE_AUTOCOMPACT_PCT_OVERRIDE` | unset (Claude Code default ~83%) | `60` | Auto-compacts conversation context earlier, prevents performance degradation near the window limit. |
 
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ In each case, run on default settings, validate the result, then switch on `low_
 The features below would help but require a larger architectural change (switching ZO from `claude` CLI launcher to direct Anthropic SDK). They're tracked as future work, not in scope for low-token mode v1:
 
 - **Prompt caching**: Anthropic's 5-minute TTL cache. Would save ~90% on cached input tokens.
-- **Batch API**: 50% discount for async jobs. Suitable for the Haiku ticker but incompatible with interactive tmux.
+- **Batch API**: 50% discount for async jobs. Applicable to other Haiku/Sonnet calls ZO might add in future (e.g., end-of-phase reports) but incompatible with interactive tmux. The per-60-second Haiku ticker that originally motivated this note has since been removed.
 - **Files API**: upload static artifacts (plans, specs) once, reference by ID.
 - **Extended thinking budget tuning**: cap thinking tokens explicitly.
 
@@ -127,8 +127,7 @@ What changes, end-to-end, between a default run and a low-token run on the same
 | Phase 4 stop condition | `must_pass` tier | `could_pass` tier | Stops earlier on weakest acceptable result |
 | Cross-cutting `research-scout` | Spawned per phase | Skipped | ~6 spawns × ~1 KB contract |
 | Cross-cutting `code-reviewer` | Spawned per phase | Spawned per phase | (kept, quality safety net) |
-| Haiku headline ticker | Every 60s | Disabled | ~60 small calls/hour |
-| End-of-session Haiku summary | Generated | Skipped | 1 small call per session |
+| End-of-session Haiku summary | Generated | Skipped | 1 small call per session. (The previous per-60-second headline ticker — ~60 small calls/hour — was removed unconditionally.) |
 | Auto-compaction trigger | ~83% of context window | 60% of context window | Earlier compaction → less degraded reasoning at the tail |
 
 ## Worked example: MNIST
@@ -236,7 +235,7 @@ In each case: run on default settings, validate the result, then switch on `low_
     Several Anthropic API features could provide additional savings but require switching ZO from the `claude` CLI launcher to direct Anthropic SDK calls, out of scope for low-token v1:
 
     - **Prompt caching**: 5-minute TTL cache. Would save ~90% on cached input tokens.
-    - **Batch API**: 50% discount for async jobs. Suitable for the Haiku ticker but incompatible with interactive tmux.
+    - **Batch API**: 50% discount for async jobs. Applicable to other Haiku/Sonnet calls ZO might add in future (e.g., end-of-phase reports) but incompatible with interactive tmux. The per-60-second Haiku ticker that originally motivated this note has since been removed.
     - **Files API**: upload static artifacts (plans, specs) once, reference by ID.
     - **Extended thinking budget tuning**: cap thinking tokens explicitly.
 

@@ -99,8 +99,9 @@ The **Lead Orchestrator** reads the plan, decomposes it into phases, builds cont
 
 - A tmux pane with the orchestrator's live session
 - Phase progress + gate status streamed to your terminal
-- Haiku-summarised headline events every 60 seconds
+- Live task list + recent agent events from the comms log
 - A live training dashboard (split-pane) once Phase 4 starts
+- At the end of the run, a short Haiku-generated bullet summary of what the team accomplished
 
 <Tip>
   Press <kbd>Ctrl-b n</kbd> to switch into the agent pane and watch the team work in real time. <kbd>Ctrl-b p</kbd> jumps back.
@@ -113,7 +114,7 @@ The **Lead Orchestrator** reads the plan, decomposes it into phases, builds cont
   zo build plans/mnist-demo.md --low-token
   ```
 
-  Sonnet lead instead of Opus, Haiku for code-reviewer / test-engineer / oracle-qa, 2 Phase-4 iterations instead of 10, full-auto gates, no headlines, earlier auto-compaction. **~30% measured savings** on the MNIST bench (\$7.75 vs ~\$11 default); 50-60% targeted with the Haiku routing + per-phase trims (pending second bench), 70-80% on the [roadmap](/roadmap) via SDK refactor (prompt caching, Batch API, Files API). Slight quality trade at the lead step. See [low-token mode](/concepts/low-token-mode) for the full preset and trade-offs.
+  Sonnet lead instead of Opus, Haiku for code-reviewer / test-engineer / oracle-qa, 2 Phase-4 iterations instead of 10, full-auto gates, no end-of-session Haiku summary, earlier auto-compaction. **~30% measured savings** on the MNIST bench (\$7.75 vs ~\$11 default); 50-60% targeted with the Haiku routing + per-phase trims (pending second bench), 70-80% on the [roadmap](/roadmap) via SDK refactor (prompt caching, Batch API, Files API). Slight quality trade at the lead step. See [low-token mode](/concepts/low-token-mode) for the full preset and trade-offs.
 </Note>
 
 ## 6. Verify

@@ -57,8 +57,7 @@ Authoritative locations: [`src/zo/cli.py`](https://github.com/SamPlvs/zero-opera
 | Phase-4 `stop_on_tier` | `must_pass` | `could_pass` | `_LOW_TOKEN_LOOP_CLAMPS` in `experiment_loop.py` |
 | Cross-cutting `research-scout` | enabled | disabled | `_agents_for_phase` in `orchestrator.py` |
 | Cross-cutting `code-reviewer` | enabled | dropped from Phase 1; **on Haiku** elsewhere | `LOW_TOKEN_PHASE_DROPS` + `LOW_TOKEN_HAIKU_AGENTS` |
-| Haiku headline ticker | every 60s | disabled | `_maybe_print_headline` in `cli.py` |
-| End-of-session Haiku summary | generated | skipped | `_generate_session_summary` in `cli.py` |
+| End-of-session Haiku summary | generated | skipped | `_generate_session_summary` in `cli.py`. (The previous per-60-second `_maybe_print_headline` ticker was removed unconditionally; only the one-shot wrap-up call remains, and `--low-token` skips even that.) |
 | Default gate mode | `supervised` | `full-auto` | `_resolve_gate_mode` in `cli.py` |
 | Lead prompt: dedicated adaptations section | included | omitted | `build_lead_prompt` in `orchestrator.py` |
 | Lead prompt: roster | full descriptive | compact comma-list | `_prompt_roster` in `orchestrator.py` |
@@ -72,7 +71,7 @@ These compose with `--low-token` to fine-tune individual knobs:
 |---|---|---|
 | `--lead-model {opus,sonnet,haiku}` | choice | Override the lead model |
 | `--max-iterations N` | int | Hard cap on Phase-4 iterations |
-| `--no-headlines` | bool | Disable the headline ticker (independent of low-token) |
+| `--no-headlines` | bool | Skip the end-of-session Haiku bullet summary (independent of low-token) |
 | `--gate-mode {supervised,auto,full-auto}` | choice | Override the gate mode |
 
 ## Plan-level fields

@@ -1082,3 +1082,36 @@ The tmux mechanism (settings.local.json overlay) is novel for ZO and the risk su
 - **Single-flag shorthand `--unattended` aliasing both `--gate-mode full-auto` and `--bypass-permissions`** — defer for future polish; the current explicit form is more learnable and the two-flag combo is short enough.
 
 **Outcome:** Single feature commit on branch `claude/bypass-permissions-flag`, PR opened against `main`. validate-docs 10/11 (improved from baseline as the test-count warning resolved). 760 pytest pass / 7 skipped. **No new PRIOR added** — this is a clean feature with no failure trace; the design choices are auditable here. Power-user usage: `zo continue --repo /path/to/prod-001 --gate-mode full-auto` for an unattended overnight tmux run with full agent-team visibility AND no permission prompts.
+
+---
+
+## Decision: 2026-05-28T20:00:00Z
+**Type:** FEATURE-REMOVAL + BEHAVIOR-CHANGE
+**Title:** Remove the per-60-second Haiku headline ticker (keep the end-of-session bullet summary)
+
+**Decision:** Remove the periodic Haiku headline ticker from `zo build` / `zo continue` runs. The ticker spawned `claude -p --model haiku` every 60 seconds throughout a session to summarise the last 15 buffered events into a one-line headline printed in the lead pane. User feedback: nobody uses the headlines. Cost: ~60 subprocess spawns per hour at ~$0.0001-$0.0003 each, totalling ~$0.06-$0.18 per 10-hour overnight run, plus the latency/CPU cost of repeatedly spawning a Claude Code subprocess. Pure waste if the output is going unread.
+
+The companion `_generate_session_summary` call at session end is **kept** — it's a single Haiku call per run (~$0.0002) that prints a 2-3 bullet wrap-up of what the team accomplished. Useful, cheap, one-shot. User explicitly confirmed keeping this piece.
+
+Scope (single PR to `main`):
+- **`src/zo/cli.py`** — `_launch_and_monitor`: deleted `_maybe_print_headline` function (~30 lines), the `_last_headline_time` and `_headline_interval` timer variables, and the `_maybe_print_headline()` call inside `_print_status`. Kept `_headline_buffer` (still consumed by `_generate_session_summary`) and all the `_headline_buffer.append(...)` event-capture calls in `_print_status`. Kept `_generate_session_summary` and its end-of-session invocation. Updated `headlines_disabled` parameter docstring + the auxiliary-call comment to reflect the narrowed meaning. Updated `_LOW_TOKEN_PRESET["headlines_disabled"]` inline comment from "disable Haiku ticker (~60 calls/hr)" to "skip end-of-session Haiku summary (~1 call/session)". Updated `--no-headlines` flag help text on both `build` and `continue` commands.
+- **`docs/cli/build.mdx`** — Step 5 monitoring sentence rewritten ("surfaces Haiku-summarised headlines every 60 seconds" → "prints the live task list and recent agent events"), "Headlines" Live-monitoring `<Card>` removed entirely, options table `--no-headlines` row updated, `--low-token` accordion text updated.
+- **`docs/cli/overview.mdx`** — shared options table `--no-headlines` row updated.
+- **`docs/quickstart.mdx`** — "What you'll see" bullet list rewritten + new end-of-session bullet added, `--low-token` Note text updated.
+- **`docs/COMMANDS.md`** — `--low-token` and `--no-headlines` lines updated.
+- **`docs/concepts/low-token-mode.mdx`** — two preset-comparison tables collapsed the "Haiku headline ticker" row into the existing "End-of-session Haiku summary" row with an explanatory note that the ticker has been removed unconditionally. Updated the Batch-API forward-looking note that referenced the (now-removed) ticker.
+- **`docs/reference/low-token-preset.mdx`** — preset table same collapse, `--no-headlines` override-flag entry updated.
+
+**Rationale:** This is the cheapest large-payoff cleanup left on the cost-reduction roadmap. The ticker output was visible (one line every minute in the lead pane) but redundant — the lead pane already shows the live task list, agent events, and gate decisions in real time. The Haiku summary added decoration, not signal. Removing it cuts ~$0.06-$0.18 per overnight run AND removes 60/hr subprocess churn, with no observed user impact (per user-confirmed "no one is using this feature"). Keeping the end-of-session wrap-up preserves the genuinely useful one-shot summary at session close without re-introducing the per-tick cost.
+
+The `--no-headlines` flag is preserved (not removed) for backwards compatibility. Its meaning narrows from "disable both the ticker and the end-of-session summary" to "disable the end-of-session summary only" — the ticker is gone for everyone now, with or without the flag.
+
+**Alternatives considered:**
+- **Remove the end-of-session summary too** — rejected. User explicitly wanted to keep it. Cost is trivial (~$0.0002/run), and the bullet wrap-up is genuinely useful at session close.
+- **Remove the `--no-headlines` flag entirely** — rejected. Backwards-compatibility concern; the flag still has a meaningful (if narrower) effect. Keeping it is one line with positive UX value.
+- **Move the ticker off Haiku to a non-LLM summariser** — rejected. The redundancy with the live task list pane is the actual problem, not the Haiku call. A non-LLM summary would still be ignored noise.
+- **Make the ticker opt-in via a `--headlines` flag** — rejected. Adds complexity for a feature with zero confirmed users. If demand surfaces later, easy to re-add.
+
+**Outcome:** Single feature-removal commit on branch `claude/remove-haiku-ticker`, PR opened against `main`. After rebase onto main (which now includes PR #92), pytest 760 passed / 7 skipped on both Python 3.11 and 3.12. ruff `src/` clean. validate-docs clean. Full CI-equivalent matrix run locally per PR-039 protocol before push. **No new PRIOR added** — this is a clean feature-removal driven by user feedback, not a failure-trace self-evolution.
+
+**Cross-reference:** PR-039 (pre-push verification must mirror full CI matrix) — this PR's verification followed that protocol end-to-end. Related to session 024's `--low-token` design where `headlines_disabled` was first introduced as a cost-saving preset field; this PR extends that thinking to the unconditional case (everyone gets the cost saving, not just `--low-token` users).